Radiology Test

Stanford Health Care Imaging Services - For general radiology referrals, please complete the Requisition / Exam Order Form (PDF), and for radiology wellness exams, use the CT Virtual Colonoscopy Requisition Form (PDF), or the CT Lung Cancer Screening Requisition Form (PDF).

Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley Imaging Services - For general radiology referrals, please complete the Requisition / Exam Order Form (PDF), and for radiology wellness exams, use the CT Lung Cancer Screening Requisition Form (PDF).

Radiology Test

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Imaging tests are only part of cancer diagnosis and treatment. A complete cancer work-up also includes talking about your medical history (asking questions about your symptoms and risk factors), a physical exam, and blood work or other lab tests.

Many health care providers plan x-rays or other imaging tests before treatment starts. These pictures are then used to track changes during treatment. These are called baseline studies because they show how things looked at the start. They can be compared with later images to see the results of treatment over time.

Imaging tests can find large groups of cancer cells, but no imaging test can show a single cancer cell or even a few. In fact, it takes millions of cells to make a tumor big enough to show up on an imaging test. This is why treatment may continue even when cancer cells can no longer be seen on an imaging test. The goal is to get any surviving cancer cells. Even one can grow and, over time, become a tumor that will again be big enough to cause problems and/or show up on an imaging test.

A radiologist is a doctor who specializes in imaging techniques; they usually read (interprets) the images made during the test. The radiologist writes a report on the findings and sends the report to your doctor. A copy of the report will become part of your patient records. Your other doctors (oncologists, surgeons, etc.) may look at the images, too.

If you have questions about a test that your health care team wants you to have, ask them. You may want them to explain why you need the test, what it could find, the pros and cons of having the test, and if there are any other options to the test. Also be sure to ask about cost. Will your insurance cover the test? Do you need to OK it with your insurance before getting the test? (This is called pre-certification.)

Diagnostic radiology helps health care providers see structures inside your body. Doctors that specialize in the interpretation of these images are called diagnostic radiologists. Using the diagnostic images, the radiologist or other physicians can often:

Methods: A prospective HIPAA-compliant multicenter outpatient quality improvement survey was administered by a trained interviewer to 218 outpatients from November 1, 2016, to February 1, 2017. The survey was vetted by patient- and family-centered care advocates with experience in survey design and underwent precognitive testing for readability. Six clinical scenarios were tested. Descriptive statistics were calculated.

Results: The response (93% [202 of 218]) and completion (93% [188 of 202]) rates were excellent. Anxiety (28% [57 of 202]), depression (26% [53 of 202]), and cancer (23% [46 of 202]) histories were common. Median stated expectations for imaging test results receipt were 3 days after a screening examination (interquartile range [IQR] 5 days); 2 days after chest x-ray for chest pain (IQR 3) or MRI or CT for back pain (IQR 2); and 1 day after chest x-ray for pneumonia (IQR 2), MRI or CT for brain tumor (IQR 2), or CT for cancer treatment (IQR 3). If imaging results are not received, the median time patients stated they would wait to call their provider was 1 to 5 days (varied by indication). Waiting for imaging results exerts an emotional change in 45% (91 of 202) of individuals, with the majority (85% [77 of 91]) experiencing anxiety (minimal 28%, mild 45%, moderate 22%, severe 4%, extreme 1%).

The ACR Appropriateness Criteria (AC) are evidence-based guidelines to assist referring physicians and other providers in making the most appropriate imaging or treatment decision for a specific clinical condition. Employing these guidelines helps providers enhance quality of care and contribute to the most efficacious use of radiology. The AC are not intended to be used as coding guidance for radiologic procedures. Learn more

JACR in collaboration with the ACR AC Patient Engagement Subcommittee, have published Patient Summaries to help patients understand what tests are appropriate for their situation. The summaries, prepared by patients (laypersons) summarize AC recommendations for patients in easy to understand language. Click here to access the patient friendly summaries. Learn more

Many patients can now access their electronic health records online. These records include radiology reports. Online access to your health records may help you make more informed decisions about your healthcare. In addition, online access lets you share your radiology reports with other doctors electronically. This may increase the safety, quality, and efficiency of your care.

In most radiology practices, the radiologist still writes the report using medical terms that your healthcare provider will understand. However, these terms may be confusing for you as a patient. The information below helps explain the typical parts of a radiology report.

This section usually lists the information that your ordering provider has listed for the radiologist when they ordered your exam. It allows your ordering provider to explain what symptoms you are having and why they are ordering the radiology test. This helps the Radiologist accurately interpret your test and focus the report on your symptoms and past medical history. Sometimes the radiologist who reads your exam will also add information that they find in your chart or forms that you fill out before your imaging test.

Sometimes, the radiologist will compare the new imaging exam with any available previous exams. If so, the doctor will list them here. Comparisons usually involve exams of the same body area and exam type. It is always a good idea to get any prior imaging exams from other hospitals/facilities and provide them to the radiology department where you are having your test. Having these older exams can be very helpful to the radiologist.

In this section, the radiologist summarizes the findings and reports the most important findings that they see and possible causes (this is called a differential diagnosis) for those findings. This section offers the most important information for decision-making. Therefore, it is the most important part of the radiology report for you and your doctor.

This website does not provide cost information. The costs for specific medical imaging tests, treatments and procedures may vary by geographic region. Discuss the fees associated with your prescribed procedure with your doctor, the medical facility staff and/or your insurance provider to get a better understanding of the possible charges you will incur.

Introduction: Imaging tests are essential for diagnosis in the emergency context and convey clinical information that is essential to assess the appropriateness of the tests and improve their interpretation. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the imaging tests requested by the Emergency Department in a district hospital.

Material and methods: We retrospectively analyzed computed tomography and ultrasound scans requested by the Emergency Department at the Centro Hospitalar Universitrio do Algarve and considered the following variables: requested test, clinical information provided (complete/incomplete), appropriateness of the test (appropriate/inappropriate), outcome (presence/absence of relevant findings) and findings related to the clinical information (yes/no). Pearson's chi-squared and odds ratio association tests were used to evaluate the statistical association between the variables.

Results: Out of 1427 requests, only 219 (15.3%) were considered to have complete clinical information. Nonetheless, 1075 (75.3%) requests were considered appropriate. Relevant findings were present in about one-third (n = 453; 31.7%) and most of these findings were related to the clinical context (n = 410; 90.5%). There was a significant association between test appropriateness and the presence of relevant findings in the test (p < 0.001). The odds ratio of having a relevant finding was 5.0 times higher in the tests considered appropriate when compared with those classified as inappropriate (CI = 3.4 - 7.3; p < 0.001).

Discussion: The fact that appropriate tests potentiate the probability of having a relevant finding emphasizes the importance of defining guidelines so that only the adequate tests are performed.

Conclusion: Creating guidelines should improve the appropriateness of imaging tests requested in the Emergency Department, yielding their result, with the consequent rationalization of the available resources.

A radiologist will look at the outcome of a certain imaging test to find a relevant image that evaluates and supports a diagnosis. These individuals are usually medical doctors (MDs) with highly specialized training focused on the interpretation of medical imaging. Radiologic technologists also aid in this process, as they use and manage the machines in the course of producing an image. After a patient undergoes imaging tests, radiologists will give reports of their interpretations to the referring clinical doctors.

In many cases, early diagnosis can save lives, including those of patients diagnosed with cancer. Family doctors and emergency care physicians cannot effectively manage patients without diagnostic imaging, which is why they rely on radiology to find the right diagnosis and course of treatment.

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